HANOVER, NH.- The Hood Museum of Art announces Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth, an exhibition of highlights from Dartmouth College’s collection of the art of the past fifty years. From September 26, 2009, through March 15, 2010, the second-floor galleries of the museum will feature art from the permanent collection of post-1945 painting and sculpture, including impressive works by Mark Rothko, Fritz Glarner, Ed Ruscha, Sean Scully, and El Anatsui, among many others. A special installation of perceptual art will dazzle the eye in the Harrington Gallery and include works by Hannes Beckmann, Richard Anuszkiewicz, and Sol LeWitt.
This exhibition offers exciting opportunities for teaching and learning with objects. We invite visitors of all ages to use our “Closer Look” brochure to explore Rothko’s Lilac and Orange over Ivory, discover the “Big Names” in the show through self-guided mini-tours, or discuss the nature of art itself through works such as Richard Ernst Artschwager’s Arch. We hope that all of our visitors will see, experience, and interpret the art of our time anew through this intriguing exhibition and its accompanying publication.
Modern and contemporary art occupies an important position at Dartmouth College, thanks to the longtime presence of faculty, staff, and administrators who care deeply about it. Curricular connections and a broader desire to initiate transformative moments around art have propelled this legacy since the momentous creation of José Clemente Orozco’s huge mural The Epic of American Civilization in the college’s Baker Library. The support for modern and contemporary art from generous alumni and the museum’s Board of Overseers, and the dedicated attention of both gallery and museum directors over many decades, have guided all related acquisitions and programming. This exhibition is part of an ongoing series focusing on the museum’s permanent collection, following American Art at Dartmouth in 2007 and European Art at Dartmouth in 2008.
The exhibition’s opening celebration will feature the 2009 Dr. Allen W. Root Contemporary Art Distinguished Lecture by curator and critic Karen Wilkin. Wilkin will discuss a “new tradition” of abstract painting based on the expressive resonance of the color relationships that have evolved in the United States in the wake of World War II. She will explore the diverse manifestations of this tradition, its origins in abstract expressionism, and the reactions it has provoked. The lecture will be held in the Arthur M. Loew Auditorium on Friday, October 16, at 4:30 p.m., and it is free and open to all. In addition, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth will benefit from Dartmouth College’s Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Endowment, which is sponsoring a visit by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude during February of 2010.
